Jailbreak

Cydia

Dashboard X is a popular jailbreak tweak by iOS developer Ori Kadosh that brings our widgets to more convenient locations such as the home screen and inside of a separate Activator-invoked interface. Ori feels Notification Center is intended for Notifications only and widgets should be put elsewhere. In addition to moving around our existing widgets, many widgets have been created for the sole purpose of Dashboard X alone and do not work with Notification Center – these work with Dashboard X 2.0 as well.

Over the course of the last month, Dashboard X has been going through a full rebuild by the developer. Ori started from scratch so that the application would be much more stable and include some new features. Current Dashboard X owners can download the new Dashboard X 2.0 update for free, however newcomers will find that the Dashboard X 2.0 update doesn't cost a cent more than the original Dashboard X – just $1.99.

Since Dashboard X has the goal of removing Notification Center widgets from Notification Center and putting them somewhere where they won’t get in the way of Notifications, Dashboard X lets you see your widgets in other locations such as on the home screen and in the separate Dashboard X interface. You can duplicate your widgets in both locations or you can spread them out between the two interfaces. Dashboard X even works on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Dashboard X is configured from the Settings application, where you will find a preferences pane for handling its options. Alternatively, you can use the home screen icon that Dashboard X comes with. From the preferences pane you will be able to change how you enter edit mode on the home screen, choose the widgets that will be visible on your home screen and dashboard, choose how you will dismiss the dashboard, and choose an Activator method for opening the dashboard:

Some of the newer features in Dashboard X 2.0 include the ability to choose between the default background for widgets and a better-looking background. The background option is available for both the home screen and the dashboard interface. One is just darker and the other has more of a transparent appearance. The transparent appearance will look better on certain wallpapers since you will be able to see them through the widget, however the darker background is easier to read depending on the wallpaper:

Another cool new feature is the ability to resize your widgets. If you feel like the default size of the widget is taking up too much room, you can shrink it. If you feel like the default size just isn’t big enough, you can enlarge it. The resizing feature is demonstrated best on the iPad, however iPhone and iPod touch users may enjoy the ability to shrink the widgets so that they seemingly take up less home screen space. You can resize widgets by simply pinching them with two fingers:

Alerts for deleting widgets from the home screen and from the dashboard have been nixed, so they will simply be removed when you tap on the delete button. You can re-add them later, so they’re not completely deleted from the device. What’s cool about deleting widgets in Dashboard X 2.0 is the awesome new “suck” animation that shows:

To move widgets when the device is in jiggle mode, you have to hold down on the widget before you can drag it

Support for different orientations

Many bug fixes

For the rather large update that Dashboard X 2.0 is, everyone that owns Dashboard X should download the free update. It’s much more stable, it's zippier, and overall more responsive. Newcomers should consider Dashboard X 2.0 if they use a lot of Notification Center widgets and want to help un-clutter Notification Center without losing their widgets.

Ori Kadosh was generous enough to give ModMyi’s lucky readers the chance to win one of five Dashboard X 2.0 licenses. If you have always wanted Dashboard X and you're feeling lucky, then you should enter this giveaway!

Complete the widget below to grab entries into this Dashboard X 2.0 giveaway: